Removal of petrol filler neck and wheel arch welding

[SilverChariot]

Hi,

Just acquired an old Yaris and have been giving it a thorough inspection.

Found water ingress in boot and traced to a bad seal in o/s light cluster which has now been sealed up.

While inspecting I took both sides panels off the inside of the wheel arches and noticed a spot of rust to the n/s. After a little 'investigation' I have found that the rot is quite bad and have a hole of about 5cm diameter on the inner panel and similar on outer panel of the wheel arch directly above the petrol filler.

Because of the double skin design I can't really get to it from the inside and the petrol filler is in the way on the outside.

Removing the filler pipe from the tank is just two hose clips but I'm not sure at the filler cap. There looks like a large hose clip that has rusted down but I can't see any screws, bolts etc in order to remove this.

Has anyone done this and if so what is the procedure?

Also has anyone repaired rot on the inside of the wheel arch and if so what method did you use? (weld - self or shop, filler, fibre glass etc)

Thanks.

[praivo]

Because of the double skin design I can't really get to it from the inside and the petrol filler is in the way on the outside.

What do you mean by "double skin"? I have a hole inside the wheel arch (right above the filler neck and big enough for me to see the inside of the rear lights through it) too and I'm planning on fixing it soon. To me it looks like there's only one layer of metal and removing the plastic trim in the boot and the light should be enough.

The filler neck on my car is held in place by the rubber seal behind the door and one bolt under the car (which rusted and broke off because the mechanic who installed it was an idiot and didn't even grease it, let alone use a stainless one, so it was replaced by a self-tapping screw). And as I found out when the bolt broke off, taking it out will let you pull the neck out of the seal and then out of the wheel arch. I'd probably rest it on the wheel to avoid damaging the hoses that connect it to the tank.